Ivan Enrici

Understanding Intentions in Social Interaction: The Role of the Anterior Paracingulate Cortex

Neuroimaging studies have identified the anterior paracingulate cortex (PCC) as the key prefrontal region subserving theory of mind. We adopt an evolutionary perspective hypothesizing that, in response to the pressures of social complexity, a mechanism for manipulating information concerning social interaction has emerged in the anterior PCC. To date, neuroimaging studies have not properly distinguished between intentions of persons involved in social interactions and intentions of an isolated person. In two separate fMRI experiments, we demonstrated that the anterior PCC is not necessarily involved in the understanding of other peoples intentions per se, but primarily in the understanding of the intentions of people involved in social interaction. Moreover, this brain region showed activation when a represented intention implies social interaction and therefore had not yet actually occurred. This result suggests that the anterior PCC is also involved in our ability to predict future intentional social interaction, based on an isolated agents behavior. We conclude that distinct areas of the neural system underlying theory of mind are specialized in processing distinct classes of social stimuli.

The intentional network: how the brain reads varieties of intentions.

Social neuroscience provides insights into the neural correlates of the human capacity to explain and predict other peoples intentions, a capacity that lies at the core of the Theory of Mind (ToM) mechanism. Results from neuroimaging research describe a widely distributed neural system underlying ToM, including the right and left temporo-parietal junctions (TPJ), the precuneus, and the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Nevertheless, there is disagreement in the literature concerning the key region for the ToM network. Some authors point to the MPFC, others to the right TPJ. In the effort to make a contribution to the debate, we propose a model of a dynamic ToM network consisting of four regions. We also introduce a novel theoretical distinction among varieties of intention, which differ by the nature of an individuals pursued goal (private or social) and by the social interactions temporal dimension (present or future). Our results confirm the crucial role of both the MPFC and the right TPJ, but show that these areas are differentially engaged depending on the nature of the intention involved. Whereas the right TPJ and the precuneus are necessary for processing all types of prior intentions, the left TPJ and the anterior paracingulate cortex are specifically involved in the understanding of social intention. More specifically, the left TPJ is activated only when a subset of social intentions are involved (communicative intentions). Taken together, these results demonstrate the progressive recruitment of the ToM network along the theoretical dimensions introduced in the present paper.

Theory of Mind ability in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: An analysis of the neural, cognitive, and social levels.

The paper reviews convergent evidence on the ability to attribute mental states to ones self and to others (i.e., theory of mind, ToM) in patients affected by the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD). This disease represents a particular challenge for researchers and clinicians, due to its insidious onset and ambiguous clinical features, which frequently render difficult a precise and timely diagnosis. The paper proposes a way to shed new light on the hypothesis that the neuropsychiatric profile of individuals with bv-FTD can be at least partially explained by a deficit in ToM ability. We examined both neuroimaging data on the neural correlates of ToM ability in healthy participants and studies investigating the progressive cerebral atrophy in patients with bv-FTD. Our findings suggest a link between the progressive degeneration of the anterior regions of medial frontal structures characterising the early stages of the bv-FTD and the ToM deficit these patients show. They also suggest the importance of using ToM tests during the diagnostic process of bv-FTD.

Theory of Mind in Parkinson's disease

The ability to infer other peoples mental states (i.e. Theory of Mind, ToM) is a major topic of interest in various neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, it is only recently that there has been an assessment of cognitive and affective components of ToM ability in neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we examine studies investigating the ToM ability in Parkinsons disease (PD). Taken together, these studies provide preliminary evidence that ToM difficulties may occur in PD patients. In particular, these difficulties principally involve the cognitive component of ToM in the early stages of the disease. The spatio-temporal progression of dopamine depletion supports the hypothesis that the affective component may only be affected in the advanced stages of the disease. The relationships between executive functioning, dopaminergic therapies, and ToM in PD as well as the relationships between frontostriatal circuits and ToM processing are discussed.

Intention processing in communication: A common brain network for language and gestures

Human communicative competence is based on the ability to process a specific class of mental states, namely, communicative intention. The present fMRI study aims to analyze whether intention processing in communication is affected by the expressive means through which a communicative intention is conveyed, that is, the linguistic or extralinguistic gestural means. Combined factorial and conjunction analyses were used to test two sets of predictions: first, that a common brain network is recruited for the comprehension of communicative intentions independently of the modality through which they are conveyed; second, that additional brain areas are specifically recruited depending on the communicative modality used, reflecting distinct sensorimotor gateways. Our results clearly showed that a common neural network is engaged in communicative intention processing independently of the modality used. This network includes the precuneus, the left and right posterior STS and TPJ, and the medial pFC. Additional brain areas outside those involved in intention processing are specifically engaged by the particular communicative modality, that is, a peri-sylvian language network for the linguistic modality and a sensorimotor network for the extralinguistic modality. Thus, common representation of communicative intention may be accessed by modality-specific gateways, which are distinct for linguistic versus extralinguistic expressive means. Taken together, our results indicate that the information acquired by different communicative modalities is equivalent from a mental processing standpoint, in particular, at the point at which the actors communicative intention has to be reconstructed.

Emotion processing in Parkinson's disease: a three-level study on recognition, representation, and regulation.

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterised by well-known motor symptoms, whereas the presence of cognitive non-motor symptoms, such as emotional disturbances, is still underestimated. One of the major problems in studying emotion deficits in PD is an atomising approach that does not take into account different levels of emotion elaboration. Our study addressed the question of whether people with PD exhibit difficulties in one or more specific dimensions of emotion processing, investigating three different levels of analyses, that is, recognition, representation, and regulation. Methodology Thirty-two consecutive medicated patients with PD and 25 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Participants performed a three-level analysis assessment of emotional processing using quantitative standardised emotional tasks: the Ekman 60-Faces for emotion recognition, the full 36-item version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) for emotion representation, and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for emotion regulation. Principal Findings Regarding emotion recognition, patients obtained significantly worse scores than controls in the total score of Ekman 60-Faces but not in any other basic emotions. For emotion representation, patients obtained significantly worse scores than controls in the RME experimental score but no in the RME gender control task. Finally, on emotion regulation, PD and controls did not perform differently at TAS-20 and no specific differences were found on TAS-20 subscales. The PD impairments on emotion recognition and representation do not correlate with dopamine therapy, disease severity, or with the duration of illness. These results are independent from other cognitive processes, such as global cognitive status and executive function, or from psychiatric status, such as depression, anxiety or apathy. Conclusions These results may contribute to better understanding of the emotional problems that are often seen in patients with PD and the measures used to test these problems, in particular on the use of different versions of the RME task.

Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Gender differences in social cognition are a long discussed issue, in particular those concerning Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to explain and predict other people’s mental states. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to test the hypothesis that anodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) selectively enhances cognitive ToM performance in females. In the first experiment we administered to sixteen females and sixteen males a cognitive ToM task during anodal or placebo tDCS over the mPFC. In the second experiment further sixteen females completed the task receiving anodal or placebo tDCS over the vertex. The results showed that anodal tDCS over the mPFC enhances ToM in females but not in males, an effect indicated by enhanced ToM in females that received anodal tDCS over the mPFC compared with females that received tDCS over the vertex. These findings are relevant for three reasons. First, we found evidence of gender-related differences in cognitive ToM, extending previous findings concerning affective ToM. Second, these differences emerge with anodal stimulation of the mPFC, confirming the crucial role of this area in cognitive ToM. Third, we show that taking into account gender-related differences is mandatory for the investigation of ToM.

A psychological approach to information technology security

This paper analyses from a psychological standpoint how human and more generally psychological dimensions were taken in consideration by the recent literature related to information technology security. We discuss three main psychologically relevant dimensions such as cognitive hacking, hackers profiling and human errors and distinguish four distinct levels of psychological approaches to information security.

Effective connectivity gateways to the Theory of Mind network in processing communicative intention

ABSTRACT An Intention Processing Network (IPN), involving the medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus, and temporoparietal junctions, plays a fundamental role in comprehending intentions underlying action goals. In a previous fMRI study, we showed that, depending on the linguistic or extralinguistic (gestural) modality used to convey the intention, the IPN is complemented by activation of additional brain areas, reflecting distinct modality‐specific input gateways to the IPN. These areas involve, for the linguistic modality, the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), and for the extralinguistic modality, the right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG). Here, we tested the modality‐specific gateway hypothesis, by using DCM to measure inter‐regional functional integration dynamics between the IPN and LIFG/RIFG gateways. We found strong evidence of a well‐defined effective connectivity architecture mediating the functional integration between the IPN and the inferior frontal cortices. The connectivity dynamics indicate a modality‐specific propagation of stimulus information from LIFG to IPN for the linguistic modality, and from RIFG to IPN for the extralinguistic modality. Thus, we suggest a functional model in which the modality‐specific gateways mediate the structural and semantic decoding of the stimuli, and allow for the modality‐specific communicative information to be integrated in Theory of Mind inferences elaborated through the IPN.

At the Core of Pragmatics: The Neural Substrates of Communicative Intentions

In many pragmatic phenomena, there is a discrepancy between the literal meaning and intended meaning. For the study of the neurobiology of pragmatics, this means that full analysis of the processes involved in a communicative exchange should include the processes involved in comprehending the agents’ communicative intentions. We discuss the Intention Processing Network (IPN) model, according to which a set of brain areas are involved in comprehending communicative intentions. This model has received support from neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies investigating pragmatic phenomena. We show that the IPN brain areas are engaged in communicative intention processing, regardless of modality used. The relationship between the IPN and the mirror neuron system is discussed. Finally, we argue that pragmatics concerned with ecological contexts needs methodology that is able to monitor the brains of two agents while they interact, overcoming the artificial separation between actor/partner to move toward a communal construction of meaning.In many pragmatic phenomena, there is a discrepancy between the literal meaning and intended meaning. For the study of the neurobiology of pragmatics, this means that full analysis of the processes involved in a communicative exchange should include the processes involved in comprehending the agents’ communicative intentions. We discuss the Intention Processing Network (IPN) model, according to which a set of brain areas are involved in comprehending communicative intentions. This model has received support from neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies investigating pragmatic phenomena. We show that the IPN brain areas are engaged in communicative intention processing, regardless of modality used. The relationship between the IPN and the mirror neuron system is discussed. Finally, we argue that pragmatics concerned with ecological contexts needs methodology that is able to monitor the brains of two agents while they interact, overcoming the artificial separation between actor/partner to move toward a communal construction of meaning.